July 2009
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Welcome
This month, there’s been a bit of a ‘hitch’, and as a result, we’re sending our warmest congratulations to CCL’s joint MD Brian Kelly and his new bride Gemma. Brian and Gemma tied-the-knot on Saturday 4th July. We’d call it more of an “interdependence day” than an “Independence Day” celebration, but the wedding was a fabulous affair. Afterwards guests celebrated, as only wedding guests know how, at Brian and Gemma’s pub in Binfield, near Henley, with a great spread and a serious dose of partying. Well done to Brian and Gemma, and we wish you every kind of happiness in the years to come. In this issue we’re revisiting a couple of important areas again – the new EORI registration and the gritty issue of illegal alcohol and tobacco importation. We’ve another featured freight forwarder for you and of course, our usual fragment of fiction to entertain you in your coffee break. Like so many of you, we’re taking a holiday in August. It’s ‘business as usual’ at CCL of course, but as far as the newsletter is concerned, there won’t be an August issue – we’re going to leave you to enjoy your holiday reading, untroubled by issues of customs and commercial transportation. Fear not, we’ll be back, recharged, refreshed and raring to go, in September. So enjoy the rest of this issue and don’t forget, for any customs and importation queries, make our friendly and approachable Customer Services team on +44 (0)20 8231 0900 your first port of call. In this issueEORI Update: It's here... EORI Update: It's here...We’ve been trailing the HMRC’s introduction of the EORI (The Economic Operator Registration and Identification) System for a while now. EORI has been operating in parallel with the TURN system for the last 3 months, but HMRC have cut across fully to EORI from 1st July. If you haven’t yet got your replacement EORI reference number, you should see to this without delay, as your TURN number is now obsolete. You will need to have your EORI number to hand before you import or export as we need this when we make the customs declaration on your behalf. Without your EORI number, your consignments are likely to be delayed whilst the EORI registration process goes through. Details on how to apply including the application form as well as further information about the scheme can be found on the HMRC website EORI Scheme home page. We weren't joking! HMRC really is cracking down on alcohol and tobacco smugglingWe’re back on the booze and fags message again this month, as it’s an important one. HMRC really are getting tough on the smugglers, as evidenced by this recent news item which we spotted in the Daily Mirror: Britain's most prolific tobacco smugglers were jailed for up to four years earlier this month, after they were secretly filmed by customs agents. The four, who imported 15 million cigarettes and 2.5 tonnes of fake tobacco in a year in an international smuggling ring, were snared after a six-week surveillance operation in early 2008. Smuggling through Southampton and Felixstowe docks from China, customs agents tracked the crew, after seizing 28,000 fake Golden Virginia packets at Heathrow. News from the Crewe Chronicle earlier this month shows a reassuringly joined-up approach to tackling the problem at street level too: Customs officers say they have seized 47,000 illegal cigarettes, 23.5 kilos of counterfeit hand rolling tobacco and 50 litres of illegal vodka in a series of swoops in Crewe. In the multi-agency operation to target illegal tobacco and alcohol sales HMRC officers, assisted by Cheshire police, Trading Standards’ enforcement officers and housing organisations, confiscated the items following a search of shops, private addresses and stalls at a market sale. HMRC has been cracking down on illicit trading in Belfast too - you can read more about their activities here. They make an important point in their news release: “The unregulated sale of illegal cigarettes is not a victimless or harmless crime and encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals.” We at CCL want nothing at all to do with any aspect of this immoral and illicit trade, and nor should you. Our Featured Freight Forwarder: D T Gruelle
D T Gruelle’s logistics systems deliver efficient distribution management, reduced inventory levels, lower overhead costs, improved shipping and receiving management and direct savings on labour. Reducing costs and improving cycle times results in significant benefits for their clients, including better corporate asset management, higher profits and renewed focus on core business processes. D T Gruelle’s service portfolio includes: US domestic and international air freight, Carnet and TIB services, crating and packing, customs bonds and insurance services, EDI/EDIFACT, imports and exports by air and sea, just-in-time services, import and export licensing services, logistics management, NVOCC and warehousing. For more information see the D T Gruelle website or contact Alessandra Busatta at D T Gruelle in the USA on (412)-262-2755. Did you know?.. VAT relief on goods supplied onward to another EU countryGenerally speaking, VAT is payable on all goods and services imported from outside the European Union (EU) at the same rate that would apply to the goods or services if they were supplied in the UK. However, in some circumstances HMRC advises that you may be able to obtain relief from import VAT. If you import goods from outside the EU, specifically to forward them on to another EU country, you are normally allowed to claim relief from the import VAT on these goods. This is known as Onward Supply Relief (OSR). The effect of using OSR is that import VAT is not paid anywhere in the UK, and supply VAT on the onward supply is accounted for in the country of destination. This has obvious benefits for traders in other member states, who in effect don’t have to pay their VAT up-front in the UK, but pay later, in the destination country. There’s another area of potential relief too. If you import goods from outside the EU specifically to process them in some way before re-exporting them outside the EU, you may be able to claim relief from the import VAT on these goods. This is known as Inward Processing Relief (IPR). You need authorisation to use IPR. HMRC has produced a guide which explains what transactions qualify for OSR and IPR, how these reliefs work, and how you can claim them. Click here to access the guide on the HMRC web site. Q&A - Everything you wanted to know about importing, but were afraid to ask!Here’s the spot where we answer in brief your more specific customs and importation questions. Q: We import and export fabrics/garments, mainly to and from Morocco. We send fabric, hangers, labels etc, to Tangiers where the fabric is made up into garments and delivered back into the UK. Can you assist us with logistics? A: We can certainly assist, but in order to provide you with accurate information and costings, we will need to know if your cargo travels by ocean/sea or air. You will need to advise us on likely volumes and frequency and give us details of where in the UK the re-delivery will take place. We will also need to know whether you already have IPR or OPR facilities in place with your local HMRC team. Coffee Break Story: "Stepping in Paint"Here’s another of our ‘coffee break’ stories for your time-out time. Enjoy! I’m having a “stepping in paint” day. We had a decorator in once, and he told a story about how he was having a particularly bad day, with all sorts of stuff going wrong, and how he came down off his ladder in a hurry at one point and stepped straight into his tray of paint. Now that sort of day has become known as a “stepping in paint” day in our house – and today, quite frankly – I’d rather have paint all over my shoes, than be dealing with the messy stuff that’s been raining down on me since I got up. It started with the alarm – yes, that early. Yes, I’d remembered to set it. Yes, I’d even heard it. Yes, it had actually woken me up. Then I’d lain there, thinking I had a half-hour of duvet time and a dose of Sky News before I actually had to get out of bed. Except, the last time I used the alarm clock, I’d needed a 7am start, not a 6am start, so when I just switched it on last night, without checking the time, that’s what it gave me. It took me a good 10 minutes of staring blankly at that little clock in the corner of the TV screen before I realised. Then all hell broke loose. You can just imagine, can’t you? No time for a shower (on a hot summer’s day, I knew I would live to regret that, but it was, I was, too late... too late....); no time for coffee and Weetabix and certainly no time to check the kids’ homework. They’ll survive, just leave, slam the door for good measure, just to show what a bad time you’re having and maybe get some sympathy when you get home. Then a mad, crazy dash – a hopeless lost cause – for the train. It was long-gone of course, which meant my ticket, sensibly purchased weeks in advance to get the best rate, turned into just so much waste paper. That meant another ticket at a breathtakingly stratospheric cost – so high it made my credit card bleed. It would have been a bit pricey for a trip to the moon, and I’m only going to Bristol. So now I’m maxed out on the corporate plastic and it’s only half-way through to the month. Plus I gotta explain to the ‘Finance Director from Hell’ why I needed two tickets to get to Bristol on the same day. A few minutes then, to get my breath back and gather my thoughts before the next train arrives. My breakfast is a Twix and a Mars Bar from the confectionary booth. It’s not ideal, but chocolate is chocolate. Then the train shows up and I can at least get on my way. It’s crowded and I’d normally be much more courteous, but today isn’t going my way, so I push and shove and grab the last seat, pretending to ignore the two losers who weren’t fast enough. It’s a tight squeeze though, and a stuffy carriage and I’m beginning to wish there’d been time for that shower. We’re moving, at last, and I reach for my briefcase, sandwiched between my feet. Gotta phone the prospect to apologise ahead of time for being late – it’s going to annoy them, for sure, but there’s not much I can do about that. Much better to call than just show up late, right? But... oh, you guessed it, didn’t you?... It is a “stepping in paint” day after all.... The phone. My mobile. I know exactly where it is – and it’s not in my briefcase. It’s charging-up. On the kitchen worktop. At home. Guess the word I’m thinking of. Everything’s in a downward spiral now. I’m going to be late and I can’t warn my prospect. They’ll be irritated and short of time by the time I arrive, so we’ll be getting off on the wrong foot. I’ll be making a hopelessly bad impression, unwashed and crumpled. You’d hardly blame them if they picked the competition after all that, would you? I gotta do something to salvage things. These guys want us to handle all their imports and logistics for Europe – container loads from China every other week, cleared, stored and redistributed across, oh, 145 city-centre locations around Europe. It’s a big job. Huge. My boss nearly hyperventilated when he got the call. To be honest, I think he should be here with me, going through the pain. But between you and me, I don’t think he believes we can win it – we’re hardly one of the big boys, after all. I think he wants to maintain a bit of a distance, keep his hands clean for when it all goes belly-up. But I’m new and he doesn’t know me – he doesn’t know I don’t know the meaning of the word ‘lose’. I got off to a bad start today, I know it, but I’m going to use every ounce of hot-to-trot pure-diamond-encrusted sales brilliance I can muster. I’m going to charm the birds from the trees, sell ice to the Eskimos and sand to the Arabs.... And I’m going to dig out those killer-apps that make us unbeatable. I am the steely-eyed missile man!!! So, to work. I had a quick word the other day with a guy from this customs clearance outfit. Guess what, they’re called Customs Clearance Ltd. None of those fancy arty-farty names for these guys – you know what you get from them. Anyhow, I’d downloaded their brochure, along with a few other bits and pieces from their website and I had the time now to take a proper look at it all. I could tell they’d be able to process my prospect’s customs paperwork a whole lot faster, and fast turnaround gives us an edge. So does the bonded warehousing and break-bulk services they can provide. It means we can punch above our weight without costs running out of control, and that, my friend, is a neat little package of added value. So the train is pulling in at Bristol Temple Meads now and I’m getting ready to run for it. I’m gonna make it work, you’ll see. And when it comes to it, I won’t be stepping in paint, I’ll be painting the town red... |
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| Customs Clearance Limited | |
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the USA, 21st July 2009
